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DeLand, Fla. - Stetson Athletics Director Jeff Altier has announced that long-time head men's tennis coach Pierre Pilote has been elevated to Director of Tennis for the Hatters. He will now be responsible for both the men's and women's programs Stetson. Pilote takes over the women's program from the recently departed Sasha Schmid who stepped down to accept the same position at Missouri.

"We believe that Pierre will use his many years of experience to extend and continue to enhance the level of the women's program, just as he has with the men", said Altier. "We will look to hire an assistant coach for the program in the near future."

Since becoming the Stetson University Men's Tennis coach in 1993, Pilote has raised the bar for the men's tennis program both on the court and in the classroom. He is responsible for turning Hatter tennis into one of the most successful teams at the University. In his 18 seasons at the helm of the men's program, Pilote has compiled the most wins and the best winning percentage in school history. His teams have also averaged better than 19 wins per season during his tenure. Pilote earned his 300th career victory on March 4, 2009. Under Pilote, the team has now been at or above .750 in 13 of the last 16 seasons and .800 or above eight times.

"This is a fantastic opportunity to be involved with more of our great scholar athletes", said Pilote."I am honored by the confidence that Dr. Wendy Libby and Jeff Altier have in my ability to lead both tennis programs and I will continue to work tirelessly to have both teams attain the successes that they expect out of their tennis programs."

"Both teams will have senior leadership with Shannon Gunning on the women's side and Maksim Levanovich, Njal Stene, Dane Moran and Chris Hyma on the men's side", he added. "I will look to hire an outstanding assistant within the next few weeks".